


Letters from the Dreamers

by Payasita



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Letters, Loss of Parent(s), Multi, Religion, unresolved love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26686636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Payasita/pseuds/Payasita
Summary: Dreamers of Hallownest,As you are all aware, the seal of binding nears completion. I foresee your duties shall be completed within the month. It is with great remorse that I admit I can offer you little more in the way of accuracy; I cannot predetermine any exact dates.However, I can offer that you shall not all take to your rest at the same time. I implore you get the last of your affairs in order that you may Dream in peace, and leave you with the choice to correspond with me individually, should you decide you would like to know the order in which you shall complete your component of the seal.And once again, I offer my endless thanks, and my deepest sympathy. For your sacrifices, Hallownest shall last eternal.King-Creator and Servant to All,The Pale Wyrm
Relationships: Monomon the Teacher/Quirrel (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 89





	Letters from the Dreamers

**Author's Note:**

> The Dreamers prepare for the end of days. Acceptance and resolution are still a lot to ask, no matter how detailed one's knowledge of the inevitable.

Dreamers of Hallownest,

As you are all aware, the seal of binding nears completion. I foresee your duties shall be completed within the month. It is with great remorse that I admit I can offer you little more in the way of accuracy; I cannot predetermine any exact dates.

However, I can offer that you shall not all take to your rest at the same time. I implore you get the last of your affairs in order that you may Dream in peace, and leave you with the choice to correspond with me individually, should you decide you would like to know the order in which you shall complete your component of the seal. 

And once again, I offer my endless thanks, and my deepest sympathy. For your sacrifices, Hallownest shall last eternal. 

King-Creator and Servant to All,

The Pale Wyrm

* * *

Esteemed Teacher,

As the hour of our reckoning draws nearer, I once again write to seek your guidance. The end of a full life seems such a dreadfully daunting task to prepare for in theory, does it not? 

And yet now I find I have precious few loose ends that need tying before I can dream without any lingering weights to follow me. I have no family, no heirs, and no true estate. At the end of things, I have found my personal attendant to be my truest friend. Though I attempted to relieve him of duty, he has refused time and time again, insisting he will wait at my side until I one day wake. 

Tell me, truthfully, as the foremost mind in the field of science and logic you are, do you believe there to be a chance we shall ever indeed awaken again? I fear the obligate passivity of my own profession offers me little real perspective on things grander than what I can watch.

Your humble watcher,

Lurien

* * *

Watcher,

Which profession do you mean, when you speak of a lack of perspective? An artist does nothing if not give importance to the scenes they replicate, in fact shifting their reality so that their audience may interpret their own within it. You have endless new worlds and endless new perspectives at your fingertips, should you ever choose to put them to canvas. And though you prefer to perform your worship in solitude, the fact remains that many still come to you as a spiritual leader, especially at such harrowing times as these. I might wonder, then, if it is for yourself that you seek my counsel, or for the sake of those that look to you for advice that you think yourself unqualified to give. 

Alas, I concede my digression to only be an attempt at procrastination. But even if I were given more time to think than I have left in this world, I would still have to admit to you that your guess of what the future holds is as good as mine. The future is a nebulous thing even for beings with inherent insight into it, and it is not something I've as of yet been able to distill within a beaker of acid to break apart and know. 

The magic of the seals shall keep our  _ bodies _ in stasis, but the  _ mind _ of a bug is a trickier thing to predict. For one to dream, neurons must fire, and the brain must function on a level below full consciousness, still at work, but somewhat disconnected to outside stimuli. I do not know that we  _ will _ wake, and even if we do, I cannot say with certainty that we would wake as the same creatures who initially took to sleep. Whether we change due to some entropic decay of our minds that may creep past our seals, or due to some unforeseeable effect that prolonged entrapment of our consciousness in the dream realm shall have on us, while we are effectively separated from our material bodies. 

I should apologize for only being able to offer rather morbid hypotheses, when you clearly meant to look to me for some kind of cosmic comfort. But science is often only comforting to people when they find no issue with distorting the facts to fit their agendas. Perhaps you instead ought to look to a priest or shaman for whatever peace you seek. Their words often give plenty of room to allow for convenient interpretation at your leisure. 

_ From the desk of Monomon, _

_ Archivist of Hallownest _

* * *

Archivist,

Can you believe the Pale Wyrm, offering pointless platitudes to us, when it's  him who's damned us to our fates as idle strands of weaver spell? I often find myself regretting not stooping to fit the stereotype his kind spread about my people and our mating rituals, and just biting his little head off while I had the chance. Tell me, scientist, is it true that worms can regenerate parts of themselves once torn off? For all that I'm leaving my land behind, I think it'd be a fair enough tradeoff for Hallownest to at least have to suffer a headless King for a time. 

So, are you going to ask him when you'll Dream in the order? From our correspondences over these past years, I have been able to conclude time and again that you're one of those insatiably curious types. That might come off as glib, but rest assured that I think it a fine quality within you. Especially when so many others of Hallownest's upper-crust are so content to live their lives in bloated complacency. 

-Herrah

* * *

Beast,

Though your words objectively ring blasphemous, I do, in fact, have research to offer you on the anatomy of some worm-like creatures that supports your claim. For example, not only can some species of Fluke live on after they've been severed in half, but often both pieces of the creature shall take on new life as two separate monsters. Though the two could not be less related, and cathartic though the action of decapitating Hallownest's god-king might be for you, I think the potential result of  _ two _ of him might be antithetical to the spirit of your goal.

Loyalty to my home compels me to accept the words of my King with graciousness. As a good citizen of Hallownest, I could certainly never dream of rolling my eyes at any offer of thanks or inutile apologies my King in his wisdom would have for us. I definitely could not think his words inane, and I surely could not find his forced politeness about the end of our lives to be pointless and melodramatic. I am a very good citizen with very nice things to say about the Pale Wyrm.

But on a more serious note, I actually find myself hesitating to seek knowledge for the first time in recent memory. I am a scientist, but even if good science rises above fear of the unknown, I myself am not entirely above it, being only flesh and blood and carapace like everyone else. 

What of yourself? Will you seek to know more of your passing, if only to further prepare your kingdom for it?

_ From the desk of Monomon, _

_ Archivist of Hallownest _

* * *

Archivist,

I personally can’t see much practicality in knowing where in the order I’ll pass. Life is often suddenly cut short anyway, and all my own necessary preparations have been well underway since I agreed to the Wyrm’s grim scheme. 

Practicality aside, though, there’s every chance my opinion might change, the closer we get to the month’s end. If I do decide to ask, I won’t relay the information to any of my followers, as it’d do nothing for them but pile on just a little more undue grief to bear on my behalf. The future is already uncertain, and I do not wish to go giving them the impression that I am counting down my days. 

I think the main factor for my decision will ultimately be my child. I do not want to effectively die on the plinth in front of her, if I can avoid it. I am caught between the desire to spend as much of my time left with her as I can, and the desire to make sure she’s sent away to Vespa well before my demise. Both feel uniquely selfish, though I am firm in the conviction that fate has ensured I've earned something of a special right to some selfishness, as have you and the Watcher.

I'm sure you must find it odd that I confide in you with this so freely. But really, who in the world would be a better confidant than the keeper of an archive, by definition a person who seals away knowledge by trade? Not to mention, one with so little time left of her own. You’ve got better things to do than gossip about the maternal struggles of a foreign Queen, in an act of needless cruelty before her death. 

And beyond your profession, I'm sure that you must be warring with as much uncertainty as I am. We are united and made equal by our fates as anchor-points for the King's overly fragile web of sacrifice and regret.

If you'll forgive the near pun.

-Herrah

* * *

Lady Monomon,

Your assertions about my intentions are fair, though I pray you do not judge my communication with you plainly as the despairings of an old bug at the end of his wits. I know well the threat of entropy, and I know well of the analogous natures of death and Dreaming, especially in terms of spirituality.

I confess I do not normally share your penchant for curiosity. My devotion has always given my life meaning, and it shall see me through to the end of my days. It now grants me the conviction to accept my end whenever it may come, without further question for our beloved King. 

Allow me to thank you, then, for making your mild enmity for me and my reasons to Dream so clear, even now, at the end of our lives. It reminded me that whatever happens to any of us is utterly unimportant in the face of our duties to the state, and to Him. The sciences and the realm of the presently knowable aside, my faith stands strong. 

I pray you too shall find peace with what you believe, when our time comes.

Your obedient Watcher,

Lurien

* * *

Teacher Monomon,

Here is the information as requested.

Lurien's seal shall be the first completed, and he will be the first called to Dream. Herrah shall follow him in a matter of either days or weeks, though I foresee a handful of weeks as more likely. Your own seal shall be finalized in three days' time after her's.

I am truly sorry.

P.K.

* * *

My King, 

I write now to promise you I have gone to Dream weighed with no regrets from the waking world. I entrust the next appointed to care for the City with full faith that they shall honor my legacy.

Forgive the intrusion of my loyal attendant. It is not by his own boldness that he ensures this letter reaches your majesty's hands directly. It was only my final wish for him under my employ, and he means no offense of his own volition. 

I have said this before, but I only wish to say it one last time, in perhaps some vain and utterly presumptive hope that I hold any power to lessen the burden over his majesty’s heart: I have enjoyed every moment of the honor of being your Watcher, and will continue to relish it as I am able to watch over Hallownest, and you, from my everlasting Dream. It will bring me the greatest purpose to play my part in the eternity of our treasured kingdom. I only wish I could have thanked you enough in life. 

Perhaps you may still hear my prayers as I sleep. I hope you will, if it would only mean that you might not grieve for me. I know how you grieve already. Your most devoted feel it as deeply as the soul you granted us allows, and had I one more wish in this world, it would be to ease it, somewhat, however I could. You did only what you needed to. And even if you can no longer forgive yourself, I beg you let the understanding of your subjects and the continued prosperity of Hallownest offer you some little comfort, or some peace.

At the end of my life, please pardon me this outspoken honesty. I have little else to give, now. 

Farewell, my King. I shall see you again, once upon a dream.

With love in perpetuity,

Your Watcher

* * *

Archivist,

Days or weeks. That was all the information the Wyrm had been able to give me about when I'll pass. "Days or weeks" after his timid little hermit went to Dream. I know I shall not even get a day's warning before I am to be set upon the plinth. For by nature of how the spells that confine us are woven, time will be of the essence as soon as they're complete.

The bargain made for my life had been fair. I know this more truly than I've ever known anything. But one can't particularly reason away grief, I suppose. Not even a beast. 

I hope your affairs are all in order. You're too careful for them not to be, I'm sure, but the mantids chitter on so often now of disturbances in the direction of your noxious canyon. Were the club-welding soldiers now guarding the place your decision?

-Herrah

* * *

Beast,

I had in fact asked for guards at the entrance of the Fog Canyon upon my sleep, but it was his majesty that chose to deploy them now. Their presence is meant to be reassuring, I'm sure.

Though, if I didn't know better, I might wonder if they're here as some added assurance that I won't decide to go back on the deal and leave Hallownest. Not as if I could; the wastes would rob me of my mind like anyone else born here, and I possess little skill or physical prowess to ever possibly survive on instinct alone. And I suppose some might find my reasoning to agree to take up the mantle of Dreamer to be somewhat flimsy. But that would be a problem on their end, not mine.

And like I said, I know better. 

I'm flattered that you think me so prepared, but in truth, there are still things I need taken care of. Lurien and I disagreed on much. But I envy how he had very little holding him back. There is a comfort in worship that isn't easy to find elsewhere about things like death and the future. The belief in a divine plan that will ensure your care beyond the grave, and the procession of the world towards general betterment. 

But we both knew exactly what that plan was, for our foremost god told us about it in great detail. We had all collaborated on it. I think it's his conviction that I envy, and how he kept it even in the face of all that.

Even if he had been a self-righteous, somewhat pretentious holy roller. I'd say we oughtn't speak ill of the dead, but he is, in fact, still breathing. I checked myself.

_ From the desk of Monomon, _

_ Archivist of Hallownest _

* * *

Madam, 

I know you dislike when I leave notes, but I thought it prudent to remind you the construction crew was coming by today to finish the tank. 

I've also gathered some intel on the sorcerers of the Soul Sanctum, as requested. My findings were equal parts fascinating, and repugnant. It's not the sort of thing we'll be able to discuss over lunch. If only because I have far more than an hour's worth of questions.

-Quirrel

* * *

Wyrm,

My daughter will be escorted to the Hive by a posse of my Devout, or she will go alone. Your abominations of void poured into steel are not welcome in Deepnest, nor anywhere near her as guards, and these facts will not change when I slumber.

You've already damned your own progeny with that vile substance a hundred thousand times over. Mine shall be kept as far away from it as possible, no matter what shape it takes. 

Her safety is no concern of yours, and never will be. You forfeit fatherhood long before she was born, and you had little issue about stating that fact with clarity on the day of our arrangement.

And she knows this very well. 

Even with me out of the way, you'll not be part of her life so long as she does not allow it. If you ever wished to be at all, or ever do later, then I suggest you go and pray to a better god than yourself that she will grow to one day value mercy.

Do not hold your breath for that. Mercy is not a thing that she would have inherited from either of us.

Herrah, Queen of Deepnest

* * *

Mother,

I have arrived safely in Queen Vespa's realm, and await your next correspondence. The bees are swift couriers when they deign to leave the Hive.

Hornet, Princess of Deepenest

* * *

Master of the Sanctum,

This missive reaches you at the behest of Teacher Monomon, who requests the presence of one of your scholars at the Archive for an urgent project. She requests any who might specialize in the study how one's soul is tethered to their given mask. The Madam would also request access to any documented results of your research and spellwork experimentations involving a bug's mask, and its effects on soul stability. 

_ From the desk of Monomon, _

_ Archivist of Hallownest _

* * *

Hornet,

I do hope you are behaving yourself around all that honey. Though I'm sure Vespa would share from her own top quality stores if you only asked. She still remembers how you used to try and jump in the rivers when you were a spiderling, you know. Exhibiting manners now might be a pleasant surprise for her. 

Love, 

Mother

* * *

Mother, 

~~ I remember how ~~

~~ I wish you wouldn't ~~

~~ How can you joke like  ~~

~~ The Hive is ~~

~~ Please do not ~~

~~I love you~~.

* * *

Mother,

The Hive is more than generous. Vespa assures me the skills I exhibit in training with her knights honors my namesake. I shall write again with any more updates.

Hornet

* * *

My child,

What is there to say?

You know everything important, and have for much of your life. You know the circumstances of your birth, and the duality of your lineage. 

We both know how quickly you needed to grow in the face of it. So much of what makes you who you are could be seen as based in cruelty, for I know you may believe you were born at the cost of another life, and one I was selfish enough to allow to grow dear to you. It would have been more selfish still, though, to force you to be alone out of some attempt to spare your feelings, when I could instead raise you and the best I could with what time we had, that you might have known the love and care every child deserves. I tried desperately to achieve that, and hope I did alright by you.

But your birth was not only the product of an exchange between sovereigns. Children are often gifts to their parents, and to the world. They called you the Pale Gift upon your hatching. That was the first name of many that you'd take on that might try to encompass the complexity of your identity, though none came so close as Hornet.

I needed an heir, yes. But I wanted the best for you even as far back as when you'd only been an idea. You were a gift to me, but the Wyrm's contribution to your blood was my gift to you. You will never know the touch of the infection's wailing heart, nor will anyone ever question the claim to power that is yours. All that I do has been out of love of you. The world could be damned otherwise, but I wanted you to inherit one where you would thrive. The world itself is my final gift to you, to take and use as you wish. 

I will be looking over you, to better ensure that it may be good to you. I only hope you can learn to love the lands you call home, and the life you will make for yourself within them.

Be swift, and be strong, and be clever, and do not mourn. Your practicality and keenness of judgement have always brought me great solace and pride, and I know those traits will continue to serve you well. Princess of Deepnest, I will dream of your coronation with gladness.

My daughter, we will meet again one day. Live long and live well until we do. I love you, so much.

-Mama

* * *

Quirrel,

Herrah now dreams. Meet me at Uumuu's wing. We have less time to prepare than I had hoped.

-Monomon

* * *

Teacher Monomon,

Though I dearly wish you had not sought out aid from the Soul Sanctum, I understand your caution. It is true that I dislike it when our kind leave our land. But the sanctum is guilty of atrocities regarding mind and soul that far surpass the sin of abandoning King and country. At any rate, you'll find no help from the master of that place any longer. He has recently succumbed to the infection, and only chaos reigns there now, where his towers crawl with the unnaturally powerful mad and their miserable follies.

With my aid, though, what you seek could be done with ease. Your mask can be removed without pain, though it will take much of you along with it. 

I imagine by now you understand that gravity of what it is you try to do, and will not insult you by attempting to dissuade you. You know that no cost would be too great to ask of me, in exchange for your continued compliance with our plan. I shall be present tomorrow for your sealing, and to ensure your extra protective measures are completed to your specifications.

P.K.

* * *

Madam, 

It is a heavy thing you ask of me, you know. The theft of my own mind is one thing, but I fear more how I may take yours with me as well. None have ever been trusted with anything as precious. 

Will you see through my eyes, I wonder? I never would have dreamt that we might travel the world together. The thought would normally have been laughable. You love this place so deeply that you unflinchingly gave your life to protect the countless others living within it. I could never imagine you leaving it without complaint. 

Though, on my end, what an extraordinary fantasy that might have been! I've always fancied myself an explorer, though my curiosity was always sated well enough by the breadth of research and learning that being by your side allowed me to undertake. To travel, though, is a far different method for one to learn of the world's marvels. I can't yet fathom the things we might see, or might have seen together. 

You would have complained every step of the way, I bet. You're not much for camping, from what I remember about surviving field research with you. If the lady will pardon my honesty.

You know I could never decline a duty like this. Not like this. That's what makes it so cruel, I think. That I can and will protect you with everything I have, for the rest of my days, and I won't utter a word of complaint against you, and you know that. Your sacrifice will be great, and the world will be dimmer without you in it, madam. Especially if the infection isn't entirely contained. You were blunt with me about that possibility, but it must be more likely than you'll admit. Why else would I go into exile, after all? Why else did you look so afraid for me, as our fellows started to fall sick closer and closer to the time of sealing?

At any rate, I don't think I could stand to look at this place once it takes you from me. I suppose this is all for the best for plenty of reasons.

Goodness, I sound so horribly bitter. But I suppose I'm allowed that here, given how you'll never actually read this. 

And I suppose here, I would also be allowed to tell you how I love you. I could put the words to paper, before I'm sent away to possibly lose them forever. I could.

Forgetting won't hurt. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. There's a good chance I'll never know what I lost. A mind unburdened by the past must see only wonders. 

What a horrible, terrifying, morbid thought. To know not what you've lost exactly, but to be able to glean how much you might have. It sounds like witnessing one’s own death. The way the self is erased just as efficiently as it is from the corpses who choked on golden spit, only to get back up again a day later.

I do not want to forget you for the same reason I do not want to forget myself. It feels like sentencing you to another death. You say Dreaming isn't true death, but what is the difference, really? Does the realm of dreams not sound comparable to the hypothetical realm beyond life, much in the way some people describe their beliefs that fields of grain, or flaming mountains, or lakes of cold, dark water are waiting for them after they die?

There were many times where we could have waxed philosophical on this subject together. I don't think either of us would have enjoyed that. I'm hardly enjoying it now. That's funny, isn't it? We spend so much time pondering existence, but once we have to think too hard about our own individual deaths, it becomes uncomfortable. 

No, that's wrong, it's not too unbearable to think about one's own death, in the sense that it is inevitable. It's when you consider the death of someone you love that it feels taboo. It's nigh unimaginable that someone so important might be extinguished, and that you'll have to live on without them, while the world continues turning as if it hadn’t lost anything at all.

I envy you, madam.

That is an unforgivably callous thing to say about the dead or dying, I know. But at the moment, I'm finding it just a bit difficult to care much.

We'd better get going, madam. There is much to see.

Forever yours,

Quirrel

* * *

Quirrel, 

I pray this reaches you before you leave, and I apologize for the rushed nature of my message. 

The King's spell upon my mask will protect you from much. Violent attempts on your life, mostly, but it will not protect you fully from his own curse. You will be whole, but should lose all memory of this place. I am sorry. But it's more important that you live than remember, and after everything, I think being forgotten by the one most important to me is suitable punishment for entangling you in my role in the fate of the kingdom. Truly everyone this plan touches suffers. Herrah's daughter, Lurien's followers, the monarchs themselves, and their poor, doomed, luckless brood. And now you. 

I do not know if the seals will be enough. The void is a power that eats gods and monsters and planet but the fact of the matter is that our King is attempting to jail a goddess with three mortals and a hollowed out Princeling. So long as she lives, she will be a threat. Perhaps this will work for some time. Perhaps forever. I doubt forever. If there is any chance that the Old Light will leak from the Vessel while the seals still hold, then there needs to be a contingency in place to destroy them so whoever finds this place might reach her. 

I'm sorry that contingency had to be you. But I wouldn't trust another soul in the world with all of myself the way I trust you. 

I know you always wished to see the world, I remember the way you'd stay up at night with atlases and folktales and mariners' accounts of places and cultures far beyond here. I hope you'll find joy in getting to finally do that. You were never one to sit idle, I don't know how you did so for so many years at my side without complaint.

I do not know why I am compelled to write, now. It might be cruel to leave you with this letter. It could bring some comfort to a bug that wonders about his previous life, or it could only serve to confuse you and make you mad with questions about yourself. You never could leave a mystery unsolved once it caught your interest. That quality made you such an excellent student. 

I oughtn't send this, after all. I do not think I will. Regardless, you know how I hate to stop writing before I am done. 

I believe I am doing what's right, in general. I do not want our people extinct. I do not want the world to suffer. Even so, I confess that I have been afraid for quite some time. You must have noticed. 

But giving you this chance to live, Quirrel, and to be someone outside of this plague and this crumbling kingdom, gladdens me and offers me hope. I hope you enjoy your life to the fullest. I sort of hope I might be able to witness a bit of it through the eyes of my mask as you carry it. Even when you forget me, I hope you may somehow retain the sense that someone deeply cares for you. I hope you will be happy, Quirrel. Seek your wonders, seek joy.

I hope you never come back.

_ From the desk of Monomon, _

_ Archivist of Hallownest _

**Author's Note:**

> whuh


End file.
